Tuesday, 20 June 2006

"A
translation is generally identified with the period when it was done

and a new
generation needs a translation in the language it uses”

Kural translator
Kasthuri Sreenivasan (1969)

Introduction

By 2006, more than 80 different English translations of Kural, either in part
or full, had appeared. New translations continue to appear every year, not only
in English but in other languages as well. This number is apart from some of
the select translations that appear in research publications and monographs
(e.g. Thiruvalluvar, 1979, by S. Maharajan, Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi). Some
of the translators have improved their own translations in their subsequent
editions. Ramanathan (1987) who conducted a review of English translations
mentions how E.J. Robinson in an attempt to improve his translation, modified
some of them in the subsequent publication that appeared in "Tales and
Poems of South India". He also mentions instances of the later translators
improving the translation of the predecessor (e.g. J. Lazarus doing so with the
translation of W.H. Drew; C. Rajagopalachari translating a couplet 671 in two
different styles in a single book). All these only go on to show that there is
always a scope for improvement in any undertaking involving the translation of
a classic.

While going through different translations of the Kural available to me, I
realized that no single translation had all the best translations in it. Some
translators produced the best possible translation of some couplets, though the
overall proportion of good translations varied from one to another. To get the
best possible rendering of all the 1330 couplets in Thirukkural, I compared 16
different translations and 8 other works which contained scattered translations
of different authors (Table 1).

Different translations compared to bring out the 'best'

No

Initials

Authors

Year

Publishers

(A) .......

Translations of Tirukkural

1

EL

F.W. Ellis

1812

Tirukkural on Virtue with commentary. II Edition in 1955 by
University of Madras

2

GU

G.U. Pope

1886

The sacred Kural of Tiruvalluvar Nayanar. W.H. Allen &
Co., London.

3

VS

V.V.S. Aiyar

1915

Kural:
Maxims of Tiruvalluvar. Amudha Nilayam.

4

MS

M.S. Poornalingam Pillai

1942

Thirukkural.
Reprinted in 1999 by The International Institute of Tamil Studies. Chennai. 312 pages

Most of the translations of the Kural I have come across could be basically brought
under three categories: (i) Renderings in prose (e.g. VV, CR) , (ii) Renderings
in English verse (e.g. GU, SB), and (iii) Renderings in free verse (e.g. SI,
PS). Within these three broad categories could be various subcategories based
on the length of the translations. The great Tamil scholar Kamil Zvelebil
(1974) provides a solution for translating the Kural. He says translations
should be as brief and terse as possible, preferably not in rhymed couplets. He
goes on to give five examples as well. Apart from brevity and terseness, there
is one more characteristic of the Kural which, as translator Sundaram (1989)
rightly points out, is the repetition of rhymed words, pun and alliteration.
Any translator, who manages to produces all these characteristics, without
sacrificing the meaning and content of the couplet, would have managed to do
justice to the original. However this is a near impossible task for most
couplets as we would see later in this article.

Considering all the requisite features of an ideal Tirukkural translation
mentioned above, the first preference while scanning through various
translations was to look for an apt and crisp one which does not require any
significant alteration to the original words or flow of the translator. S.M. Diaz
(2000) did a similar exercise by his objective was not the same. While majority
of the couplets were translated by him, he reproduced or adapted the
translations of Rajaji, Kasthuri Srinivasan, V.V.S. Iyer, K.M. Balasubramaniam
and others for the rest. Sometimes he reproduced translations of others besides
retaining his own, in spite of theirs’ being far better and crisp (e.g. couplet
1026). His objective was therefore not to find the best of all translations
available during his time, but only present a different perspective to the
readers through others’ translations. The end result of presenting such
unedited translations source from different authors was clearly evident: some
translations were in verse, some in prose and in varying approaches. In this exercise,
however, every chosen translation was edited to maintain an uniform style. We
cannot do a similar exercise of choosing the best translation of every verse in
other texts like Gita, Upanishad or Hitopadesa. These texts contain running
texts or narrations therefore the verses are invariably linked to each other.
The Kural is almost entirely composed of discrete couplets that can stand alone
on their own maxims or aphorisms.

Often, only a small 'correction', either in the form of an additional world
or a suitable substitution was enough to retain the credit to the translation.
An "astrix" (*) at the end of a couplet indicates slightly
modification or 'improvement' done to the original translation. Words or
phrases were moved here and there, or inserted or replaced as said above, for
clarity, brevity and originality. Sometimes two translations were mixed to
produce a befitting one. Wherever possible, preference has been given to
translations that bring out this repetitiousness that is the characteristic of
Tirukkural. Translations that captured this quality of repetitious word play
and brevity were given preference. Brief and crisp translations were preferred
over long descriptive translations. Long ones, though by and large rejected
outright, were sometimes shortened by getting rid of unnecessary words. The
objective was to keep the translations brief to do justice to the very nature
of the Kural which is brevity.

Many couplets in the Kural can be identified to have two parts, one part the
message and the other the simile (eg. 151, 718, 1087). Sometimes one part says
what should or should not be done, while the other suggests what will happen
otherwise (eg. 50, 658, 945). Sometimes, the first part is a question and the
second part is an answer to it (eg. 291, 380, 1041). Sometimes they emphasize
two different standpoints or situations (eg. 26, 53, 714). Some translators
translate the first part perfectly, while others the second part. In such
cases, they were mixed and both authors were credited for their contribution in
the end of the couplet with their initials. Here also, an "astrix"
(*) in such couplets of twin authorship indicates that couplet has also been
edited by me for reasons cited above. Editing was often necessary to make the
translation conform to the mode or flow translations chosen by me. Where only
one part of the couplet was found satisfactorily translated, I took the
initiative of translating the other part. And when no one translation was found
satisfactorily close to the original in spirit, content, message and style, I
translated them myself. While doing so, I must admit that I was immensely
benefited by all translations I had with me. All the couplets translated by me,
either in full or part, have been marked with initials ‘NV’.

Not being a scholar in Tamil, I had to depend on concordances to know the
meaning of many words. I referred to four concordances, though heavily on the
one by Subramanian and Rajalakshmi (1984). However, concordances only provide
us the meaning(s) of a particular and because a word can take different
meanings according to the context, it becomes important to used one’s insight
to reveal what the author would have intended by interpreting the couplet in
its appropriate setting. As Valluvar himself said:

A man may have studied
many subtle works,
But what survives is his innate wisdom. (Kural 373) (PS)

Some
salient findings of this comparison

Soon I realized that P.S. Sundaram’s translation conformed to the criteria I
had set in beginning. Ramasamy (2001) who wrote ‘on translating Tirukkural’
also considered that Sundaram’s renderings reflected the spirit and
characteristic of the Kural. My job then was to use Sundaram’s translation as
the basis and compare every couplet with translations of others’.

I found some of the translators declaring how they were personally
benefitted from some of the earlier translations that appeared earlier. I could
see shades of G.U. Pope’s (GU) translation in that of Kasthuri Sreenivasan,
Suddhanata Bharathi's (SB) influence in J. Narayanaswamy’s (JN) renderings,
Rajaji's influence in P.S. Sundaram’s (PS) translation and in turn the
influence of his translation in the translation of Satguru Subramaniswamy.
Sundaram himself says he was benefited enormously from Rajaji's translation
(Sundaram, 1989).

Kural translations by Srinivasa Iyengar (SI) and PS appeared during the 80s
and both of them have seem to have focused on brevity. They may look similar to
a casual reader but Sundaram's is a far superior one. SI's translations are
invariably a gist of the original and as a result are not close to the
original. SI's translation was perhaps the least literal of all the
translations compared for the present exercise. Of course there is also a very
abridged version of the Kural which is nothing but one-liners. An unknown
author has abbreviated the entire Kural and Nalatiyar into a single line verses
and the entire translation is available here.
No doubt this abbreviation is a brilliant attempt to truncate the already crisp
Thirukkural, but it did not serve my purpose of producing a translation close
to the original in spirit, content and style. This ‘translation’ was therefore
not taken into consideration for my analysis. SI freely drops words found in
the original, sometimes adds extra words on his own, often resulting in
distortions and mistranslations. The table below shows some examples of these
undoing.

Table
2: Examples of Srinivasa Iyengar’s translations that did not reflect the
meaning of the original

Examples for

SI's translations

Finally chosen
combinations

Missing
words

Like a shadow, retribution pursues
the sinner to punish him. (208)

The consequences of evil deeds leave not
Like the persistent shadow under the feet. (NV)

Extra
words

Given
up gains, though useful, if ill acquired;
ends don't justify the means. (113)

Though
profitable, turn away
From unjust gains without delay. (SB)

Incorrect
words

You win by singles and lose by thousands;
this, no highway to success! (932)

Can gamblers, who gain one and lose a hundred,
Gain anything good in life? * (PS)

Mis-

translation

The
poor are praised, the rich condemned:
but when the poor beg, giving is good.

(222)

To
receive is bad, even for good cause;

And
to give is good even if there is no heaven.

(NV, PS)

As I mentioned ealier P.S. Sundaram's (PS) translation is by far the best
one I have come across so far, and it gives us the impression that this is how
Valluvar himself would have written his couplets had he knew English. As VR
said, Sundaram has given attention to word repetitions, rhymes, brevity and
clarity unlike many others who, in their attempt to render the couplets in
rhymed verses, have often spoiled the poetic qualities of the original
(Ramasamy, 2001). However, like SI, he also at times indulges in over
shortening of one part of the couplet and thereby deviating away from my
criterion of being close to the original in content. Given below are some of
the instances where PS has over-condensed the translation (highlighted in green), requiring either some modification or
replacement of the other part with translations borrowed from others.

PS's translations

Correct translation

1

The daily feeding of a guestWill never end in want (83)

Poverty does not befall the life of one
Who always takes care of his guests. * (KV)

2

Good
friends are like good books-A perpetual delight. (783)

Being
with good friends is like reading good books.
More time you spend, more the delight. (NV)

3

Avoid diffidenceAnd deserters
in need. (798)

Dwell not in thoughts that dim your spirit
And befriend not those who desert in affliction. *
(SS)

4

What
fame will givers achieveBut for beggars? (1059)

What
fame can givers achieve if there is none
To beg and receive? (PS, NV)

5

Love's joy is as the sea, Its pangs vaster. (1166)

The pleasure of love is as vast as the sea.
Vaster still is the sorrow of its hurt. (NV)

6

No
sooner is my lord gone Than pallor comes. (1185)

There
goes my lover and here comes the pallor
To creep over my body. * (KV)

7

The great achieve deeds
Rare in achievement (975)

If the great achieve anything, it will be deeds
Rare in achievement. * (PS)

8

Fraught with illare the
sweet words

Of jeweled women who sell
their love. (911)

Fraught with disgrace are
the sweet words of jeweled women

Who desire wealth, not love.
* (PS)

Taking couplet 911 from the above table as an example (அன்பின் விழையார்பொருள் விழையும்
ஆய் தொடியார் இன்
சொல் இழுக்குத்
தரும்), PS translates this as:
"Fraught with ill are the sweet
words of jewelled women who sell their love".
The translation looks fine but for the fact that two phrases "அன்பின் விழையார்""பொருள் விழையும்"
have been reduced in translation to mean "sell their love". Since no
other translator has brought out the meaning of the couplet so succinctly like
Sundaram, all one has to do is change the last few words to make it look
"close to the original". "Fraught with disgrace
are the sweet words of jeweled women who desire
wealth, not love" * (PS). Though
few changes have been made to this translation, the translator is still
credited with his initials since the crux of the verse came from the translator
himself.

At the end of my comparative study of P.S. Sundaram’s translation with the
other translators, 33% (445 of 1330) of his renderings got retained as such,
with some of them requiring only a minor tweaking here and there. Apart from
this, nearly 14% (n=182) of his translations required the supplementation of
other translator. The rest came from other from 23 odd translators that include
me. Almost 15% of 1330 couplets required my complete translation and almost 10%
of the translations of different translators had to be supplemented by me.
Basically, the entire exercise was like challenging every translation of
Sundaram with that of other 15-20 translators. Translation attributed to a
single author accounted for nearly 73% of the 1330 couplets which came from 17
different translators (Fig 1).

Fig
1. Number of couplets of different translators taken into consideration as such

Valluvar's nature is to tell anything with telling effect with a sense of
pun. He takes immense pleasure in having a dig at hypocrites and falsehood
mongers. He has this nagging way of putting across things that otherwise go
unnoticed if told plain. Where the moral is simple, he lifts them with his
poetic skill and where both wisdom and poetic merit are in equal measure, the
couplet becomes extraordinary. It is difficult to produce that effect in a
translation.

Very often, translations do not reflect all the words in
the original. The consequence of such incomplete rendering in obvious; the word
won’t get displayed when someone searches for a word in an English translation.
For instance, most of Sundaram's translations are not only crisp but also
reflect what is there in the original. However many are not literal and as a
result does not bring out the words employed by Valluvar in composing these
couplets. These translations had to be supplemented with a word or two (see
table below for a few examples).

Couplet

Original translation

Missing words

Corrected translation

975

The great will achieve deeds
Rare in achievement.

ஆற்றின் (if achieve)

If the great achieve anything,

It will be deeds rare in
achievement. * (PS)

1001

A
miser makes of his vast wealth
No more use than a corpse.

உண்ணான்
(not used)

A miser makes of his pile of vast wealth,

No more use than a corpse.
*(PS)

1218

Asleep he is round my shoulders.
Awake in my heart again.

விரைந்து
(rushing)

Asleep he is round my shoulders.

Awake he hurries back to my
heart. * (PS)

1253

Fain
would I hide my love,
But it breaks out like a sneeze.

குறிப்பின்றி
(unawares)

Fain would I hide my love,

But it breaks out unawares like a sneeze. * (PS)

This is true with other translators as well. Here is an
example of the need to modify G.U. Pope’s translation:

Edited translation.................. Books declare that a fort should have these four:

Height,
breadth, strength and difficult access.*
(GU)

While it is justifiable to ensure that every word in the
original is translated as far as possible, there are times when such a
‘literal’ translation would end up awkward in translation. During such occasions,
it is better to not reflect in translation the words in the original text. For
instance the word "cool" (தண்ணம்) in
couplet 1277 does not fit into the sequence in English so much so that many
translators have incorporated it (eg. JN, VS, MS, DZ, GU, DL). The word "துறைவன்"
has been taken to mean "Lord of the sea shore" and therefore the
phrase "தண்ணந்துறைவன்"
to mean as "Lord of the cool seashore". However, the word for
"seashore" is not explicitly mentioned here but only implied. In the
end, I translated the couplet this way: “Even before I could, my bangles
figured out the immanent separation from my lord”. (NV)

Sometimes, repetition of a word will look good in the
original but not in translation. In such cases, it is better to omit such
repetitions in translation.

வினைவலியும்தன்வலியும்மாற்றான்வலியும்துணைவலியும்தூக்கிச்செயல்.(471)

Let us take two translators, GU
and DL as examples:

The force the strife demands,
the force he
owns, the force of foes,
The force of
friends; these should he weigh ere to the war he goes. (GU)Let (one) weigh well the strength of the deed (he purposes to do),
his own strength,

the strength of his enemy,
and the strength of the allies (of both), and then let him act.(DL)

The chosen translation for this couplet is that of K. Kannan. Here the word
‘valiyum’ meaning ‘strength’ has been
translated only once despite its occurrence four times in the original.

Weigh the strengths of the
task, yourselves,
Opponents, and allies before acting. *
(KK)

Another example is couplet 1112. Two words for flowers occur in the original
("மலர்"and "பூ")but it is not deemed essential to
repeat both in translation.

மலர்காணின்மையாத்திநெஞ்சேஇவள்கண்பலர்காணும்பூவொக்கும்என்று.(1112)

O heart, why get distracted seeing common flowers

And
match them with her eyes!* (PS, VS)

Rarely do we come across a situation where a word will have to be repeated
in a translation though it occurred only once in the original. Here is an
example:

சாதலின்இன்னாததில்லைஇனிததூஉம்ஈதல்இயையாக்கடை.(230)

Nothing
is worse than death;

But
even death is sweet if one can't
help the poor.* (PS)

In this verse, the word for ‘death’ "சாதல்" (sāthal) occurs only once in the original.
It had to be repeated again in the second line for clarity. At times
introduction of an extra word in translation, which is only implied but not
there in the original, would make it easier for the target audience to
appreciate the meaning. Here is an example:

பொருட்பெண்டிர்பொய்ம்மைமுயக்கம்இருட்டறையில்ஏதில்பிணந்தழீஇஅற்று.(913)

P.S. Sundaram’s original
translation was this:

A
harlot's embrace feigning love for lucre

Is like
one clasping an alien corpse in a dark room for money.

It has been modified
incorporating the details of G. Vanmikanathan’s (GV) translation of the
couplet:

A harlot’s false embrace for money is like one hired
To clasp an alien corpse in a dark room. *(PS, GV)

The extra word “hired” has appeared in translation only
to signify that no one would otherwise go and hug a corpse. GV’s rendering is
probably based on the commentaries of Manakkudavar and Paripperumāl: “பொருளேகருதும்பெண்டிர்ஒருவனோடுபொய்யேமுயங்கும்முயக்கம், இருட்டறையினுள்ளேகிடந்ததொருவேற்றுமைப்பிணத்தைகூலிக்குத்தழுவியதுபோலும்என்றவாறு”. Though the option of
providing a foot-note is always there, an extra word or phrase is better added
to avoid directing the reader to notes in the end or below the page. The
following table shows few other instances where I had to add a word or phrase
for clarity:

Original in Tamil

Corrected translation

நசைஇயார்நல்கார்எனினும்அவர்மாட்டுஇசையும்இனியசெவிக்கு.(1199)

Though
my beloved bestows nothing,

Still
any news about him is sweet to my ears.* (DL).

இன்கண்உடைத்தவர்பார்வல்பிரிவஞ்சும்புன்கண்உடைத்தால்புணர்வு.(1152)

His mere look was once a delight; but now even his embrace
saddens fearing separation. * (VS)

கயலுண்கண்யானிரப்பத்துஞ்சிற்கலந்தார்க்குஉயலுண்மைசாற்றுவேன்மன். (1212)

If
only my painted eyes could sleep,

I
will tell him in my dream of my true
predicament. * (KV)

இயல்பினான்இல்வாழ்க்கைவாழ்பவன்என்பான்முயல்வாருள்எல்லாம்தலை.(47)

Foremost among those who
strive for release are the householders leading a righteous life. * (SS)

தொடிநோக்கிமென்தோளும்நோக்கிஅடிநோக்கிஅஃதாண்டவள்செய்தது.(1279)

She
did no more than show me her loose bracelets, slender shoulders and swollen feet. (KV, JN)

There are times when extra words that appeared in a
translation had to be removed when found unnecessary for conveying the meaning.
Few examples of this type of rectification are given below. Almost all such
removals have come while considering the inclusion of translations in rhyming verse.

Translator

Couplet

Numbers

Original translation

Edited translation

G.U.
Pope

1245

O heart, as a foe, can I abandon utterly

Him who, though I long for him, longs not for me?

O heart, can I call him a foe and
dump him

Who longs not for me though I
long for him? * (GU)

Suddhanda

Bharathi

159

More than ascetics
they are pure Who bitter tongues meekly endure.

More pure than ascetics are they

Who bear the insult of transgressors. * (SB)

Suddhanda

Bharathi

212

All
the wealth that toils giveIs meant to serve those who deserve.

All the wealth earned by toils is
meant

To serve those who deserve. * (SB)

Translations in English verse with the last two rhyming words have their own
disadvantages. The translator has to ensure that the last two words of the two
lines rhyme and to do so he is often forced to introduce some word or phrase
which is actually not there in the original. There are quite a few translations
of the Kural done in this style (e.g. G.U. Pope, K. Srinivasan, Suddhanta
Bharati, K.M. Balasubramaniam, Lt. Col. Sunder). The translations of Lt. Col.
Sunder and K.M. Balasubramaniam were not available to me in full. Pope, Bharati
and Srinivasan together contributed to only 43 translations in my overall final
selection. Suddhanta Bharati's was easily the best of these six translations,
with 30 of these 43 selected by me being his.

Conclusions

The translations presented here are not to be considered the final ones.
There may be better translations of some of the couplets but unknown to me.
This exercise was done in 2006, and many new translations would have appeared
since then. Some of them might contain better translated couplets, I will
consider including them in future. Until then, these translations will remain
online. Please send your translations or the ones you come across this email.